The year is 1958, and sixteen-year-old Svetlana is stuck in a Moscow orphanage designated for the unwanted children of Stalin's enemies. Ballet is her obsession and salvation, her only hope at shedding a tainted family past. When she is invited to join the Bolshoi Ballet-the crown jewel of Russian culture and the pride of the Soviet Union-her dreams appear to have been realized. But she quickly learns that nobody's past or secrets are safe.
The dreaded KGB knows about the mysterious trances Sveta has suffered, inexplicable episodes that seem to offer glimpses of the past. Some very powerful people believe Sveta is capable of serving the regime as more than a ballerina, and they wish to recruit her to spy on the West as part of the nascent Soviet psychic warfare program. If she is to erase the sins of her family, if she is to dance on the world stage for the Motherland-if she is to survive-she has no choice but to explore her other gift.
The story of teenage Svetlana, matriarch of three generations of ballerinas, is both the end and the beginning of the Bolshoi Saga. This title, and the debut, Dancer, Daughter, Traitor, Spy and its follow up, Hider, Seeker, Secret, Keeper can all be read as stand-alone novels, although reading all three will provide a deeper understanding of the often thrilling-and surprisingly dangerous-world of the Dukovskaya ballerinas.
